Diet whilst breastfeeding

[Carmenyogi]

Hi
I'm currently 38 weeks pregnant and planning to bf. I've put on quite a bit of weight whilst pregnant and had a high bmi to start with. I'm planning to get bf established and then from March start making a conscious effort with my weight. Even just so I am not taking in too much. I usually use my fitness pal. I'm also planning to increase my walking, so will be out daily with baby and dog for longer than able to at the moment. Does anyone have any calorific/macro calculations that are suitable for bf?
Thanks

 

[Maud]

My fitness pal allows you to add breastfeeding as an exercise or a food so that it's taken into account when calculating your net calorie needs. They don't make a specific recommendation for the kcals but I think most people go with 500 for exclusive breastfeeding.

 

[Carmenyogi]

Thank you! I knew it could be added somehow but couldn't find it under exercise, have found it under food though. It doesn't change the macros, I thought they needed to be different?

 

[Phoenix85]

One thing to consider is trying to eat as much organic food as you can now and through out any attempt to manage or lose weight.

This is because toxins (like pesticides, antibiotics, fertiliser etc used in food) stick to fat, so if you start losing weight, more of the toxins end up in your breastmilk rather than staying put in your fat stores.

Good luck with it!

 

[Nutsyputs]

I've done slimming world after having both mine and breastfeeding. It worked really well for me and I managed to lose all my baby weight by the time they were 4 months and I put on A LOT of weight!

 

[tinselcat]

I think by 6 months of BF, baby will be burning 500 kcals, it's less when they are little as they are consuming a lot less milk. I was mentally going with about 300 kcals earlier on, but when baby is very little and you are up all night feeding as well as up all day feeding then my midwife said you would be using up more energy than normal in doing all that.

Good luck with weight loss - I didn't try dieting but just gone 1 year BF and now back to pre-preg weight.